got used to the new start screen - it's not _that_ bad, no worse than hunting through menus to find what you're looking for, and actually better in that you can just start typing the name of a program and it comes up in the search. Or you can type the name of a control panel applet or setting, and that works too.
Who hunts through menus anymore? I've been able to "just start typing the name of a program and it comes up in the search" since, *gasp!*, Windows Vista.
As a side note, I have to mention that I have never had an Ubuntu install of any type - desktop or server - that didn't fall into dependency hell upon doing a dist-upgrade. Archlinux for desktops, Debian for servers.
Funny, I just did 2 version upgrades on Ubuntu Server recently without really any problems. Perhaps you're holding it wrong?
Let's see, you've got:
* eccentric millionaire going off the grid to do obscure 'antibiotics' research in the jungles of Belize flanked by various hot young babes
* a compound with military-grade security
* allegations of corrupt local officials with commando units demanding bribes
* embedded American journalists following the saga
* a murder with alternate allegations of settling a vendetta versus a framing job
* millionaire hiding in dirt to avoid authorities
* extreme measures to hide location, including numerous disguises and a decoy with a North Korean passport
* arrest and detection in yet another third-world country
* fake heart attacks to escape detention
Sounds like the plot of a Crysis/Duke Nukem hybrid game.
but the additional privacy/tracking data that Google (and the US government) will have on people...internet and phone/voice history, voice call recordings and internet browsing history, all that data from one convenient source...scares me.
You don't think at&t is already doing this?
For serious remote desktop usage on Linux, the only thing I've tried that's actually any good is NX, although that is the only thing I've tried. Microsoft's RDP protocol is excellent. NX is the only thing that comes close to it.
Perhaps this project may interest you. I've tried all of the janky, half-assed remote desktop solutions that Linux has to offer (x2go, NX, X11 forwarding), & this one seems to work the best for me.
IT professionals, well, experienced ones anyway, don't care what the name is on the tin, as long as it does what it says on the tin. If it does its job well, it will succeed. If it does not, well... there are alternatives.
Holy Testical Tuesday that's a dangerous decision making process. Have you never had to deal with migrating away from a proprietary vendor after being successfully locked-in to their product(s)? It's not a very fun process, I'll say. I just had the joy of doing this with VMWare, interestingly enough. I will gladly put in the extra work required to deploy a solution if it preserves my freedom of choice later on down the road, should I ever need to make a change.
Arithmetic is being able to count up to twenty without taking off your shoes. -- Mickey Mouse